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As I have previously shared, I have a particular fondness for coins of this type. They were some of the first ancient Greek coins I owned. Also, I perceive that they are often overlooked and too often sold without being fully attributed.

In this thread, I will share coins of this type from my collection which I particularly like and which merit Coin of the Day status.

I'm fairly confident it is a goat's head. The previous two auction firms which previously sold this coin also identified it such. I still carefully check attributions for these coins against as many published examples as I can find because it is easy to make an error in interpreting some of these control marks. By way of example, I have one which I am convinced is a bucranium, but the seller I bought it from thought it was a bunch of grapes.

The obverse is nothing much to look at - struck well off centre.But the prow control mark is one of the best I have seen. For such a tiny control mark it clearly looks like what it is meant to (not often the case in this series!).

I figured I take a quick look around at more examples of these on the net. Most have the horse and bust going to the right, fewer have horse and bust left, while the coin the OP posted seems rare with bust left and horse right.

My example is opposite this with bust right and horse & rider left. Is my observation correct in that opposite bust/horse & rider combo's are more scarce?

Thanks for sharing - out of interest, how did you know where it was found?

ickster,

Yes in the sense that most of the types are head right / horserider right. Most of the types in the Drama hoard are of this kind.

But that is only a general observation:

1. There are plenty of right / right types with control marks which I cannot find for sale anywhere.2. There appears to be an abundance of right / left types with the N control mark. I have several. 3. I have no difficulty in acquiring the left / left ones with the (helios / lion's head / thunderbolt / crab / unknown symbol - depending on the reference you read) control mark.4. I have also had no difficulty in acquiring the left / right ones with the bull forepart control mark despite vendors often claiming this type is rare.

Thanks for sharing - out of interest, how did you know where it was found?

In the past I have been involved in a bit of numismatic research with Pankaj Tandon from whom I acquired the coin. He noted the unusual find location and I have no reason to doubt him. He sourced many of his coins in his virtual museum http://coinindia.com/ from that part of the world.

Logged

All historical inquiry is contingent and provisional, and our own prejudices will in due course come under scrutiny by our successors.

I would not call it exactly a study, more of an interest! This interest does involve me scouring all dealer and auction sites for coins in this series so I am developing an instinctive feel for availability of different kinds. Overall I am disappointing that there is not a significant number of these for sale (other than on eBay and mostly in horrible grades).

Out of the many I own, my favourite is the one below. All details are sharp, the (young) portrait of Apollo is of finestyle and the patina is stunning. Compare it to the other 2 examples I own below and you will see why it stands out as an incredible example of its type.

JA (John Anthony, a dude that is on CoinTalk) also has a goodhandle on these types and their relative rarity ... you may want to give him a shout (I remember that he had collected several combinations and I'm sure his info would compliment your info)

Although I’m still working on it (and my iPhone is only good for so much) the photos are much better than my usual fare so I thought as a thank you for sharing your knowledge (to you and Doug) I thought I would finally get around to sharing my Philip II coins!

A bit of a mixed bag and I’ve never gotten around to fully attributing them. I haven’t quite captured the detail and colouring of the one with the green patina (lighting needs work) but it’s great in hand (probably the most attractive ae in my collection). The one with the off center obverse has a soft spot for me as it was my first Greek ae (not a focus of my collection). The final one with Heracles on the obverse caught my eye recently just because I had never seen a Philip II ae horseman which didn’t feature Apollo. It wasn’t going for much and I had already won a coin off of the vendor in that particular auction so I picked it up on a whim.